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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Lonnie Dupre Mount Mckinley Expedition Day 16: 97 MPH

Lonnie called in throughout last night reporting heavy winds. NOAA Aviation was reporting gusts up to 97mph throughout the night and early morning hours today.
At about 1:30am this morning Lonnie spent an entire hour in the heavy winds outside securing gear and making sure the snow cave was not being effected by the extreme winds. The winds were so strong that the snow was literally being picked up and thrown into Lonnie’s face almost suffocating him. To spend anymore amount of time in them would be almost impossible, but managed to secure all gear and see that the cave was not damaged. The upside to spending a week in a snow cave is that it is reinforced with ice inside so becomes much more stable.
Unfortunately, there is no major change to report in the weather today and possibly not for the coming days. Lonnie is still doing well on food and fuel at 14,200ft, but in need for much better weather probability to move to high camp. Today Lonnie will spend his 7th day inside his 4×4 snow cave. Meanwhile basecamp will be working hard with the pilots in the area on gathering and analyzing weather data. We so appreciate these pilots volunteering so much time into helping us with weather predictions.
Lonnie is now getting a little more weather-forced rest, but remains in high spirits and is feeling healthy. His minor frostbit fingers are doing well as he remains taking extra care of them. Lonnie wanted to say a big thanks to everyone following along for your constant support. He has been moved by the number of people that has taken such an interest in this climb.
We will keep you all posted with the weather conditions in the coming day. Until then, upward!
Update from: www.lonniedupre.com

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